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President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea shakes hands with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan during the former’s visit to Tokyo on March 16 for a summit. (Yonhap)

The Japanese government has decided to put South Korea back on its “white list” of trusted trading partners. In effect, the two countries are returning to their original trade status four years after a spat over export controls.

The Japanese Cabinet adopted a resolution Tuesday that adds Korea to the list of countries in the third annex of Japan’s export management ordinance. The revised ordinance will be promulgated on June 30 and take effect on July 21. That will likely wrap up the two countries’ conflict over export controls that has lasted for four years, since July 2019.

The benefit of being on Japan’s list of trusted trading partners is that export procedures are streamlined. Once Korea’s position on the list is restored, regular Japanese companies will be able to receive a comprehensive permit for exporting strategic materials to Korea.

Under the export controls that have been in effect, only companies that meet certain qualifications are able to apply for special comprehensive permits.

Japan will also be lifting its “catch all” regulation, which requires exporters to receive permits for non-strategic materials that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction.

In July 2019, Japan had barred the exportation of three core semiconductor materials to South Korea, including hydrogen fluoride, in the wake of the Supreme Court of Korea’s final ruling in October 2018 ordering Japanese companies to compensate victims of forced labor mobilization. The following August, it removed South Korea from its list of countries receiving favorable export treatment.

The South Korean government responded by submitting a complaint against Japan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that September. It also removed Japan from its own “white list” of countries receiving favorable export treatment for strategic items.

The discussions toward rolling back the two sides’ export regulations began gathering momentum rapidly after a South Korea-Japan summit this March. South Korea withdrew its WTO complaint after the summit, while Japan lifted its controls on the three semiconductor export categories.

In late April, the South Korean government published a “strategic good importation and exportation announcement” in its gazette as a step toward adding Japan back to its white list.

Japan’s restoration of South Korea’s favorable export treatment status was the final step in rolling things back to their state before the mutual export controls.

By Kim Hoe-seung, senior staff writer

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